The biggest problem is that Startsear.ch and search.searchcompletion.com are being promoted through the use of freeware and add-ons/plugins. For example, when you install vShare plugin, your default home page and web search provider may be changed to either startsear.ch or searchcompletion.com. However, when you uninstall vShare from your computer, your web browser's default settings will not be restored. This means that you have to remove startsear.ch or searchcompletion.com from your favorite web browser manually. It affects Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. The following instructions have been created to help you to remove startsear.ch and search.searchcompletion.com in Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. If you you have any questions or additional information about this issue, please leave a comment below. Good luck and be safe online!
Scan your computer with recommended anti-malware software (direct download) to remove this browser hijacker from your computer. Then please follow the removal instructions below to remove the leftovers of this infection depending on web browser you use.
Startsear.ch and search.searchcompletion.com removal instructions:
First of all, download recommended anti-malware software and run a full system scan. It will detect and remove this infection from your computer. You may then follow the manual removal instructions below to remove the leftover traces of this browser hijacker. Hopefully you won't have to do that.
Remove Startsear.ch and search.searchcompletion.com from Internet Explorer:
1. Open Internet Explorer. Go to Tools → Manage Add-ons.
2. Select Search Providers. First of all, choose Bing search engine and make it your default search provider (set as default). Then select Web Search and click Remove button to uninstall it (lower right corner of the window).
3. Go to Tools → Internet Options. Select General tab and click Use default button or enter your own website, e.g. gooog.com instead of Startsear.ch or searchcompletion.com. Click OK to save the changes.
Remove Startsear.ch and search.searchcompletion.com from Mozilla Firefox:
1. Click the small magnifier icon at the right top corner as shown in the image below. Select Manage Search Engines... from the list.
2. Select Web Search and click Remove button. Click OK to save the changes.
3. Go to Tools → Options. Under the General tab reset the startup homepage. That's it.
Remove Startsear.ch and search.searchcompletion.com from Google Chrome:
1. Click on Customize and control Google Chrome icon and select Options.
2. Choose Basic Options. Change Google Chrome homepage to google.com or any other and click the Manage search engines... button.
3. Select Google from the list and make it your default search engine.
4. Select Web Search from the list remove it by clicking the "X" mark as shown in the image below. That's it.
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82 comments:
thx
You provide really great information. Thanks.
removal
Many thanks for this!
You're instructions were very clear. Thanks. However, the annoying Search.Searchcompletion box that appears on the lower right-hand side of the screen is now popping up after a search in either Google or Bing (in IE). That is, it's now popping up within the searched site. Is this still an Add-On problem? Under Tools I now just have Google. Is THIS the problem? Must it be Bing? Can you help?
Can you please make a screenshot of the pop-up and upload it to the internet? Any image hosting site is OK. I've never seen any popups related to Searchcompletion, only redirects. Also, you should scan your computer with Malwarebytes Antimalware and Hitman Pro. Both applications are free.
Thank you so much! May God bless you!
Hey I have solved my problem all thanks to youuu :D but my browsers are still troubling me. They usually give the 'Not Responding' message when I launch them or when I unlock my pc to start using a browser again. Please help me out with this. Will be very grateful ! xx
Thanks a million for this. really appreciate it! I've not very technical and this was really easy for even me to work out!
thank you friend. if you are ever in india let me treat you to dinner!!
Easy and it had all my browsers. I appreciate people that are smarter then me and make things easier for me.
Thx!!!!!! Finally got rid of this sh''
Thanks a lot, I've wasted hours, days, many restores and eventual rebuilds over this software - problem always being that I've been looking at the mal-ware specific area.
Your guide have genuinely saved me hours and hours and I'm very thankful
thank you!
I gotta say thank you so much! These crappy search engines really makes me sick, so that I found a so easy and good guide really made my day.
awesome. this should be much higher in the search results...
not working on mozilla firefox 7.0.1, have anyone experience same problem?
Yeah, I'm using 7.0.1 and your instructions didn't get rid of it entirely...it's easy enough to change my home page back in OPTIONS, and to delete the "Web Search" option from MANAGE SEARCH ENGINES.
HOWEVER, when I type a word into the Firefox Address bar, it still takes me to a searchcompletion.com results page. So it's still there in some capacity, even though I changed my home page back manually, and it's no longer accessible from the browser search bar...but it's still there lurking in the background because it's what gets searched when I type a word into Firefox's main address bar.
Any ideas?
Great, thank you!!
great thankss
I'm having the same issue as October 23 post above.
Thank you!
worked a treat and I'm a muppet
I have the same issue mentioned above as the guy in October 23rd said
Person in october 23 i have an idea!
Go to
my computer
local disk C
Program files
Mozilla Firefox
Search plugins
You should see Complify.xml DESTROY IT!
>>You should see Complify.xml DESTROY IT!
Can you explain just what this will do?
Don't want to just nuke a file before understanding what i'm doing...
Where did you find it?
To the November 12 post about what this will do.. I opened the XML file and looked through it. It's attached to searchcompletion.com. It's one of the plugins that doesn't delete itself from your firefox when you try all of these other steps.
However, it's not taking away the problem that the October 23rd post has. I've tried it...
Here is a fix for Internet Explorer:
Quit Internet Explorer.
Click Start, click Run, and then type regedit.
Change the default value of the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl
Change the default value to any one of the following values:
To specify Bing as the default search page, change the default value to "http://www.bing.com/search?q=%s" (without quotation marks).
To specify Metacrawler as the default search page, change the default value to "http://www.metacrawler.com/crawler?general=%s" (without quotation marks).
To specify AltaVista as the default search page, change the default value to "http://www.altavista.com/cgi-bin/query?q=%s" (without quotation marks).
To specify HotBot as the default search page, change the default value to "http://hotbot.com/?MT=%s" (without quotation marks).
To specify Infoseek as the default search page, change the default value to "http://www.infoseek.com/Titles?qt=%s" (without quotation marks).
To specify Excite as the default search page, change the default value to "http://search.excite.com/search.gw?search=%s" (without quotation marks).
To specify Lycos as the default search page, change the default value to "http://www.lycos.com/cgi-bin/pursuit?query=%s" (without quotation marks).
To specify Magellan as the default search page, change the default value to "http://www.mckinley.com/searcher.cgi?query=%s" (without quotation marks).
To specify Ask Jeeves as the default search page, change the default value to "http://askjeeves.com/AskJeeves.asp=%s" (without quotation marks).
To specify Yahoo as the default search page, change the default value to "http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=%s" (without quotation marks).
To specify GOTO.Com as the default search page, change the default value to "http://www.goto.com/d/search/?type=topbar&Keywords=%s" (without quotation marks).
Quit Registry Editor, and then start Internet Explorer.
For the ones who are having trouble with Firefox... I did some messing around and figured it out.
Type in “about:config” in the address bar on firefox, then type in “keyword.url” to search for that configuration key. In the "Value" for Keyword.URL, I changed it to "https://www.google.com/search?q=" and now I have google search for anything I type in the address bar!
PROBLEM SOLVED! :)
Very good. Problem has gone straight away, better than any website to get rid of problem:D
THANK YOU Daniel T! This shitty problem stole me 2 hours of my life i'll never get back. you saved me!
THANK YOUUUUUU!!! That annoying search engine has been giving me the shits!!
Thanks a lot Daniel.
THIS WORKS:
For the ones who are having trouble with Firefox... I did some messing around and figured it out.
Type in “about:config” in the address bar on firefox, then type in “keyword.url” to search for that configuration key. In the "Value" for Keyword.URL, I changed it to "https://www.google.com/search?q=" and now I have google search for anything I type in the address bar!
PROBLEM SOLVED! :)
Thank you Daniel T. You are awesome!!!!
thank you :D
On my computer with Chrome there is not x option beside the startsearcher search engine and default does not show up beside any option. Is there another way to get rid of startsearcher on Chrome as a default search engine?
the person above me has the same exact problem as me. Startsearch has gotten smarter and doesnt let up add a new search engine nor let us delete it so this information has been useless for me I NEED HELP
YES, completely agreeing with what December 1 7:46AM said. Will somebody please post an updated solution for GOOGLE CHROME users....like what is said above....the "X" to delete the startsearcher.com search engine DOES NOT appear. The "Make Default" button does not appear as well. Please post a GOOGLE CHROME solution to help all chrome users, as we all know, chrome is 100X better than firefox and is certainly 100000000000000....0000...0000X better than internet explorer
I'm also having the same trouble with chrome as 7:46 above me. There is no x option
I'm having the same issue as the above poster. I know it would fix it if I could, but it won't let me "x" out of it or change my Home Page option. I would hate to not use Chrome because of this. Help...?
I have the same problem as the poster above.
Any other ideas?
Mine problem is the same as above, I do not have the option to remove the startsearcher??
I'm having the same problem as the person above. I can't make google my default search engine and I can't change my home page. It's literally locked to startsearch.com
Same problem as the 7 users above me.... help please...
same problem as above
same problem here with chrome can't change stuff
please help, that stupid startsearcher sucks... googke support please help!!!
Same problem as the people above have said, this bug is annoying me so much, please help!
Same issue. Does anyone know the solution at all? I tried to use Anti-Malwareand super Anti spy . -doesn't solve it
thanks gays for help me god bless your
Thanks you, been trying to get rid of for an hour and a half before i found this =0)
Great information! Right on!
Daniel - awesome!
CAN SOMEONE POST A SOLUTION FOR GOOGLE MOTHER FREAKING CHROME???
This solution worked for me on Windows 7 64 bit , should work on all versions.
1. Open regedit - On Windows XP the Registry Editor is started by going to Start, clicking Run ( or the search box on Windows 7 / Vista ) and in the box typing "regedit" (without the quotes) and hitting the Enter key or clicking OK .
2. Navigate to : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /SOFTWARE /Policies /Google/Chrome
3. Look for two files
1. DefaultSearchProviderName
2. HomePageLocation
Right click the first file choose Modify and enter your desired home page URL .
do the same thing for file number two .
thank you
thank you. simple and effective.
Daniel T, good man, that bloody thing was driving me demented!
i have almost the same problem with chrome, i 1st noticed this as a popup the would be over the top of the search bar for netflix. when you click on settings it has a disable button (that does not work) its sponcered by AutoComplete Pro and redirects you to search.searchcompletion.com. i noticed the many have this set to default search or somthing like that, but its not the case for me as its a popup. any way i cant get rid of it but i found a way of blocking it in chrome
1st get the add-on Adblock Plus and install it
(from the chrome extentions)
2nd i just right click in an open spot and scroll down to Ablock and pick block this add NOT!! an add on this page
then moved the slider to the right until it was gone.
sad part is i have to do this on almost every page
also i cant be full screen,
if this help it has something to so with widdit
I love you!!!!
cheers matey, I now love you too,
Many thanks for your help, just as an aside, I downloaded on a USB flash drive, windows security scanner. At www.microsoft.com/security/scanner.
It's a really useful virus and trojan remover.
THANK YOU... faleminderit shume!
cheers man, so annyoing
Thanks so much!
great work,well explained easy to follow.
thank you
in mozilla:
Type about:config into URL bar, and find :keyword.URL and change it on: http://www.google.com/search?q=
THANK YOU SO MUCH! Everything went away after following your quick and easy instructions! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
THAAAAAAAAAANK you man !! You save my life !!
FOR CHROME users go to tools then extensions...there should be a media plugin ...plugin my ass.. destroy it ..job done...if theres more than one delete them all then redownload as you need them Hope this helps ..worked for me
Hi. I'm from Chile and your tutorial was very useful to me. Thank you very much.
Thank you SOOOOO much!! The startsear.ch thing was SOOOOO ANNOYING!!
Hi I'm running Firefox and tried everything suggested so far (i.e. delete plugin, remove WebSearch etc etc), but it still persists, i.e. changes homepage to searchcompletion.com. I've run antivirus, antimalware programs but they havent found anything. What to do?
Thankful for any help
Hi I'm running Firefox and tried everything suggested so far (i.e. delete plugin, remove WebSearch etc etc), but it still persists, i.e. changes homepage to searchcompletion.com. I've run antivirus, antimalware programs but they havent found anything. What to do?
Thankful for any help
Same prob as poster above
All of the above didn't help for me.
I ran avast! AV, it didn't catch anything.
I had to run Microsoft Security Essentials, found a Trojan, but it wasn't the real trouble.
I had to run MalwareBytes, which caught a Hijack malware that affected both my IE and Firefox.
My terminology is probably gonna be off. But...
For those who are still running into Search.searchcompletion.
Specifically like so:
"Say you're on somewhere like...I don't care, Hulu? You go to their search bar, and while typing. A dropbox appears that isn't from Hulu. Following it will lead you to...somewhere else. In the URL up top, you'll see:
"Search.searchcompletion" + whatever you typed in. "
I got rid of it.
So here's how I did it (with firefox, IE users...essentially the same thing). So what I did was go to tools at the top of my firefox window. Go down to add-ons.
Click on "Extensions" and after that I disabled "StartNow Toolbar 2.5.0"
Problem solved. For me at least.
I think the problem is still 'sleeping' somewhere on my comp. But I at least got rid of that...
Now to focus on removing any trace of search.searchcompletion from my comp.
Nothing mentioned here fixed my problem. I am currently doing a full C: scan with Malwarebytes, and though it has found a few things, I dont think it's going to fix the problem.
When I restart my computer the virus rewrites everything that's been deleted, even down to the homepage. When I change the homepage back, the search bars are still hijacked and use "search.searchcompletion.com" as their search engine.
My email address is torent17@yahoo.com. If anyone knows a way to fix this BEYOND what is mentioned here (ie, changing the homepage back, going into the registry, running a scan), please email me. I need help.
to: November 28, 2011 12:57 PM
thanks !!
joe
I experienced the same issue with the chrome search.
This seems to have helped:
http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?answer=95653
I searched for a good solution for a while, they said that I supposed to uninstall some stuff from my regedit. But it was much easier with your solution. Thank you very match ;)
I'm gonna complitly kick their ass when I find the developer of this malware.